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[LUBOK ABOUT RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR] Chem tebia ia ogorchila! (Plach Iaponii) [i.e. How Did I Upset You? (Cry of Japan)]

G-stov, K.

St. Petersburg: Litografiia V. Ivanov i Ko, 1904. Item #1083

49х37,5 cm. Very good, small fragments of blank edges lost.
Very rare lithographic lubok produced during the Russo-Japanese war. The censorship approved it on April 16, 1904. The war started in early February of the same year, and by the time of the poster production the Russian fleet had already lost some battleships. The flagship Petropavlovsk, with admiral S. Makarov and artist V. Vereshchagin, was sunk. The skirmishing off Port Arthur kept on.
This satirical poster features Japan’s poetic appeal to Great Britain and the USA, asking for their financial support. Japan regretted soldiers and the navy, the lack of help from the British, despite their alliance.
The verse reads: “You both sang me ‘Russians are weak! Just attack Cossacks and they will run away!’ <...> Now I cry, but it is too late! My fleet is destroyed <...> However I won’t give up on the war, just give me the money!”.

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